Massive snowstorm hits midwest America

A massive winter storm has hit midwest America, contributing to at least five road deaths in the last few days.

The storm hit the Rockies and Plains then punched east, with snow set to assault a 2900km corridor through the weekend, creating transportation "havoc" in midwest America.

The system started as rain from Mexico and turned to snow as it met icy air. Up to 45cm of snow was expected in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains south of Denver, according to the National Weather Service.

"My girlfriend is somewhere in the park playing Pokemon GO and I was bored. I wanted to see how far I could roll it,” Clayton, Missouri’s William Biscarri said while pushing snow into a large roll. Picture: AP

Fans arrive at a snow covered Arrowhead Stadium before an NFL divisional football playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts. Picture: AP

While the storm will spare the heavily populated Northeast, it likely will disrupt air and auto travel from Kansas City to Indianapolis, and will bring the heaviest snowfall so far this winter to Cincinnati and the Ohio River Valley, AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Walker said.

Although the Kansas City area is expected to get up to 15cm of snow, it should be over by the time the Kansas City Chiefs begin their National Football League playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts this weekend.

St. Louis emergency management officials are bracing for auto travel disruptions and possible power outages, but based on current forecasts, are not expecting to be overwhelmed, spokeswoman Tracy Panus said.

"This is not the first storm we've had in the St. Louis area," Panus, who is with the St. Louis County Police Department of Emergency Management, said by phone.

Missouri troopers responded to more than 3000 calls for help through early Saturday afternoon, including more than 700 crashes and 1,300 stranded vehicles.

In Indiana, the northbound lanes of Interstate 65 were closed for hours after a semitruck jackknifed along the snow-covered highway near Lafayette, about 105km northwest of Indianapolis.

Snow falls in Omaha, Nebraska. Picture: AP

As the system moves eastwards, it will hand off to a second coastal storm on Sunday that will bring 5 to 10cm of snow to the Washington, DC, area before it moves off the coast that night, Walker said.

"There could be a period of ice that we're concerned about across portions of central North Carolina and back into the mountain," he added.